In the oilfield operation, pipe-conveyed logging (PCL) may be used when the well deviates from vertical or is horizontal or otherwise prevents or makes risky wireline or slickline well logging, which depend on gravity to run the logging tool into the well. In this situation, the logging tool is conveyed by the drillpipe, and thus requires the operation of both the wireline winch control system and the drilling rig control system. As a result, PCL is considerably more complicated and much slower than wireline or slickline logging in non-deviated wells.
As shown in FIG. 1, a PCL operation in a borehole H includes the operation of rig equipment, e.g., top drive TD, drawworks DW, drillpipe DP, and so on, and the wireline equipment, e.g., winch W, cable WL, logging tool LT, and so on. The cable WL is secured outside the drillpipe DP with a cable clamp assembly CCA and enters the drillpipe DP through a cable side entry sub (CSES) and is connected to the connector head of the tool LT with a weak point connector WP above the logging tool LT. In the event of a stuck logging tool LT or drillpipe DP, the cable WL may be disconnected at the weakpoint WP by increasing tension on the cable WL at the winch W, allowing the cable WL to be retrieved to the surface S separately from the drillpipe DP.
The operation of the cable WL is controlled through a winch control system WCS operated by a wireline operator via a first human-machine interface (HMI) HMI-1, typically located in a wireline truck WT, which is independent from a rig control system RCS operated by the driller via a second operator via HMI-2. Thus, a successful PCL operation requires close collaboration between the wireline operator and the rig operator that makes the logging complicated, slow, and thus expensive. For example, the winch W must be stopped when the drillpipe DP translation is stopped and the drillpipe DP is held in the rotary table to connect or disconnect stands of pipe into the drillstring Then the winch W must be started as the drillpipe DP translation is started, and then let out or take up the cable WL at the same rate as the rig control system RCS translates the drillpipe DP. During the running-in-hole operation, if the drill pipe DP is run faster than the cable WL, there is a risk of over-tensioning the cable WL and prematurely disconnecting at the weak point WP, or breaking the cable WL. Conversely, if the drill pipe DP runs slower than the cable WL, there is a risk of birdnesting the cable WL in the hole H, causing equipment damage such as kinking the cable WL, jamming the winch W, stuck DP, etc.
The industry has an ongoing need for the development or improvement of PCL operating methods and systems to address one or more of the problems noted above or otherwise.